Sunday, January 31, 2016

Henry Worsley, M.B.E. (1960-2016), British soldier & explorer, who perished attempting to make the first unaided solo crossing of Antarctica, in the process raising over £100,000 for a veterans' charity.

The ferocious Nittany Lions did not score for almost four minutes, 'til 16:08 of the first half; soon thereafter, the valiant Wolverines lead 10-3. Alas, the game was tied, 13-13, at 12:24 due to an 8-0 Penn State run. The Maize & Blue thereafter grew their lead to 25-17 at 8:24, 32-22 five minutes later, &—thanks to a last-second three—38-26 at the half. Michigan still lead by ten at 15:00 to go in the second half, 44-34; the lead swelled to seventeen by 9:30, 60-43; but then shark to a perilous five, 64-59, by 4:47, again due to a 9-0 Penn State run. The valiant Wolverines responded, growing the lead to 70-61 & then making their free throws down the stretch to hold on for the 79-72 victory.

This was the eighth game for Team 100 without leading scorer Caris LeVert (senior, guard); 6-2 in league play without LeVert's twenty points a night, with a victory over Maryland & the only losses being on the road to Iowa & Purdue? I'll take that any day of the week & twice on Sunday. The game against the ferocious Nittany Lions (for whom this was a home game, despite the neutral court) was the end of the valiant Wolverines' "easy stretch" that included games against the bottom three clubs in the B1G; things get much tougher in the remaining nine games of league play (before the B1G tourney). That said, Team 100 still doesn't have a bad loss (four of the five clubs to defeat us are still ranked in the Top 25) & can boast a win over (№ 8) Maryland, without LeVert.

Next: (№ 19) Indiana within the friendly confines of the Crisler Center, on Tuesday. The wily Hoosiers have but one B1G loss & boast a higher three-point-shooting percentage than the valiant Wolverines.

Go Blue!

Seven hours after tip-off on the hard wood, the puck dropped on the ice for the second half of the inaugural B1G Super Saturday. Having been a part of similar transformations at the Palace of Auburn Hills, I tip my hat to the staff of Madison Square Garden for a job well done.

The valiant Wolverines are the highest scoring team in N.C.A.A. Division I ice hockey, which is a good thing based on what I saw of the defense & goaltending. The first half of the usual weekend series was played in State College on Thursday, 28 January: Michigan 7-4 Penn State.

The Leaders & Best drew first blood, but the ferocious Nittany Lions scored the equalizer in the last minute of the first period (tied 1-1) & used that momentum to dominate the second period, outscoring the valiant Wolverines 2-1 in what seemed like an endless flurry of shots & chances (Penn State led 3-2). The offensive prowess of "living legend" Red Berenson's latest squad came to the fore in the third period, as the puck seemed never to leave the Penn State end. Penn State goalie Eamon McAdam was under constant siege, eventually surrendering two more goals. With Michigan up 5-3 & enjoying the man-advantage of the power play, the ferocious Nittany Lions pulled McAdam, almost immediately allowing an empty-net goal to Tyler Motte (junior, right wing), the "M" in the prolific "C.C.M." line, alongside captain J. T. Compher (junior, center) & Kyle Connor (freshman, left wing).

Next: A pair of games against Michigan State, Friday at Detroit's Joe Louis Arena & Saturday in the tire-fire-of-a-burg that is East Lansing.

Go Blue!

Code Name: CHAOS
I've reversed an early, never-implemented decision (Wayback Machine), choosing "Project PUFFIN" as the title for discussions of hockey, rather than "Project ALBATROSS." Saturday's game was the first college hockey game I'd watched in its entirety in years, so already PUFFIN is off to a better start than ALBATROSS ever enjoyed. I've never denied that there is a great deal of navel-gazing involved in publishing a personal blog over the course of almost a decade & a half.

St. John Bosco was born near Castelnuovo in the diocese of Turin in 1815. His early years were most difficult & so once ordained to the priesthood he dedicated himself to the education of the young, founding congregations which would instruct youth in both the arts & the Christian life. His system of education was based on "reason, religion, & kindness." He founded the Society of St. Francis de Sales. His ministry was important in a time of industrial revolution & anti-clericalism. One of his most notable students is St. Dominic Savio. He died on 31 January 1888. Pope (St.) John Paul II named him, "teacher & father to the young."

The Fratellis, "Jesus Stole My Baby" from Here We Stand (The Last Angry Man)

Commentary: Apparently, "Jesus Stole My Baby" is not available on Here We Stand in several territories, probably because it is rankly insulting to Christianity. While 'tis true that the song's content is offensive, we as Christians should be cheered by this. The song tells the tale of a chap whose girlflesh has had a conversion experience & become a devout Christian. He mocks her faith as "a bore" & several others insults, but his chief complaint is that she will no longer fornicate with him, singing that "she was always easy seven days a week" & "I've always been in love with her treasure." Note carefully that he never says he was in love with her, only "her treasure." This is the empty hatefulness of the world, the flesh, & the devil. The Lord promised us persecutions, that the world would hate us if were were faithful to His righteousness. "Jesus Stole My Baby" is the ugliness of the world's retort to the Beatitudes on full display & hence a worthy R.B.D.S.O.T.D. for the Lord's Day.

Friday, January 29, 2016

Commentary: Who has two thumbs & spent two hours sitting in a motorcar on the shoulder of the expressway waiting for a tow truck that was promised to arrive "in less than forty minutes"?

The curious bit about today's R.B.D.S.O.T.D. is that I didn't so much pick "Just What I Needed" this morning as it was presented to me, already & inexplicably highlighted when I opened iTunes, apropos of nothing I had been doing the previous night, when I shut down iTunes. The Cars, on a day when I had car trouble; "Just What I Needed," when a tow truck was just what I needed. Spooky!

"You're just what I needed,
You're just what I needed,
You're just what I needed,
Yeah, yeah, yeah!"

The tenacious Hawkeyes opened the contest with an 11-0 run against the valiant Wolverines, & won the game by that many points, but what happened in between was not so simple. Michigan fought back to take a 21-20 lead with just under eight minutes left in the first half, though Iowa would lead 38-33 at the break. The Maize & Blue opened the second half strong & took a 49-47 lead at the 15:34 mark. Then, the sky fell: aided by terrible defensive breakdowns, the tenacious Hawkeyes went on a 12-0 run over the course of three minutes, from which we never recovered. This was a tough road loss, made all the more bitter in that we might have won had it not been for giving up those two runs, the first to start the game & the second in the middle of the second stanza. Drat!

I'm not making excuses, but the tenacious Hawkeyes have proven to be the best club in the Big Ten, the win over Michigan coming in a stretch that saw Iowa defeat twice apiece both the dastardly Spartans (№ 12) & the ill-starred Boilermakers (№ 21). As of this writing, the tenacious Hawkeyes are ranked № 3.

The scrappy Golden Gophers came to the Crisler Center winless in Big Ten play, but not due to a lack of talent or effort; the league is simply a buzz saw, with able clubs from top to bottom. The valiant Wolverines obliged Minnesota's efforts with a poor shooting night & suspect defense. Michigan lead 35-20 with three minutes left in the first half, but gave up a 10-2 run to carry a 37-30 margin into the break. Poor shooting allowed the scrappy Golden Gophers not just to hang around but to draw within three. The Leaders & Best led only 52-49 when the power of the three-point shot to gap opponents was displayed, suddenly leading 58-49 on the strength of back-to-back threes by Aubrey Dawkins (sophomore, guard/forward) & Derrick Walton Jr. (junior, guard). The valiant Wolverines held on to win, but the scrappy Golden Gophers never gave up. The positive take away is that even on a night when the valiant Wolverines shooting was nearly as cold as winter temperatures—an unbelievable thirty-five per cent (35%) for the night—they still found a way to triumph over a desperate opponent.

The valiant Wolverines were hot right out of the gate, leading 18-6 at the 14:41 mark, when all of a sudden the three-point shooting went cold. Michigan's snipers were four of five from three-point land to start but finished the half six of eleven. The Maize & Blue endured a four-minute scoreless stretch, ended only by free throws, to lead 27-23 with 3:45 left, a lead that shrank to 33-30 by the half. The second half started as had the first, including a 13-0 run that saw the Michigan men lead 54-36 at the 13:30 mark. The conniving Cornhuskers fought back, including having their own 10-0 run, eventually drawing to within two, 66-64 at 3:10. Nebraska turned fourteen Michigan turnovers into nineteen points (Coach Beilein's club averages only ten turnovers per game). In the waning minutes, the valiant Wolverines made their free throws, thwarting the conniving Cornhuskers bid to win by extending the game; Michigan finished twenty of twenty-three from the charity stripe, which inflated the margin of victory at the end. That said, there are no easy games in the Big Ten, & certainly no easy road wins.

The valiant Wolverines were held scoreless for the first three-plus minutes of Wednesday's game against the antediluvian Scarlet Knights, who like the scrappy Golden Gophers came to the Crisler Center in search of their first Big Ten victory of the season. The struggle continued throughout the first half, more due to poor shooting than superb defense, leaving Michigan trailing 16-12 with 7:45 remaining in the half. The spark was finally provided when Dawkins came off the bench to score eight straight points for the Maize & Blue (though not eight unanswered). The valiant Wolverines claimed the lead, 22-20 with 5:15 remaining, & never again trailed. A 12-0 run helped to build the halftime lead to 34-27. In the second half, Rutgers draw to within five points, 46-41 with 11:14 remaining, but came no closer; by 8:14, the lead had doubled to ten, 55-45. The largest lead of the game was twelve, & the valiant Wolverines eventually prevailed by eleven. Much like the Minnesota game, the valiant Wolverines displayed the troubling habit of playing down to their competition; by that I mean to insult neither of our opponents, but the sad case is that Michigan's mighty offense was stymied more by poor shooting than by stout defending.

This was the valiant Wolverines' seventh game without leading scorer Caris LeVert (senior, guard); in that span, Team 100 is 5-2, with both losses coming in road games against Top 25 clubs & including a win over (№ 8) Maryland. The rest of the valiant Wolverines have improved in LeVert's absence, so the squad should be all the stronger once their leader is back in the lineup & gets his sea legs back. In twenty-one games, Team 100 has equaled Team 99's victories (Team 99 finished the year 16-16), even with LeVert missing time due to injury, Zak Irvin (junior, forward) recovering from off-season back surgery, & the end of the career of "Spike" Albrecht (senior, guard). LeVert & Albrecht are the last two players from the 2013 appearance in the national championship game, the high water mark of Coach John Beilein's nine seasons in Ann Arbor. Our champions are a good-looking club, & they are improving as the season progresses. Every Wolverine should hold her or his head high at the thought of how we are represented by the young men of Team 100.

Go Blue!

Next: The ferocious Nittany Lions of Penn State at Madison Square Garden, in New York City. This is, I suppose, the whole point of admitting Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey into the previously Midwestern Big Ten Conference, to conquer the lucrative New York media market. In an intriguing bit of marketing, Michigan's & Penn State's men's ice hockey teams are also playing at Madison Square Garden, only hours after the aforementioned men's basketball game.

Thirty years ago to the day, 28 January 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger (OV-099) exploded during launch, killing all seven of her crew: Francis R. "Dick" Scobee, commander; Michael Smith, pilot; Ellison Onizuka, mission specialist; Judith Resnik, mission specialist; Ronald McNair, mission specialist; Gregory Jarvis, payload specialist; & Christa McAuliffe, payload specialist. The fateful flight, STS-51-L, was to deploy a communications satellite, conduct observations of the then-closely approaching Halley's Comet, & broadcast classroom lessons by Mrs. McAuliffe, the first astronaut from the Teacher in Space Project. Additionally, Dr. McNair, a saxophonist as well as a physicist, was to record a solo for inclusion on an album after the crew's return to Earth.

I was watching the launch, & thus the fiery destruction, of the Challenger live on television, from the library of my school, McGrath Elementary. I was in the first grade; I was six years old, the same age my oldest nephew & niece are now. This was not an everyday occurrence at McGrath. Space Shuttle launches had come to be seen as routine by the mid-'80s (the name, Space Shuttle, surely contributed to this perception); the previous flight, STS-61-C flown by the crew of the Space Shuttle Columbia, had landed just ten days before the disaster, on 18 January '86. No, the hubbub about the Challenger launch was Christa McAuliffe, the Teacher in Space. This was exactly what the Teacher in Space Project was supposed to do, to draw students' attention & inspire interest in what we now call S.T.E.M., the fields of science, technology, engineering, & mathematics. I do not remember the Challenger disaster being particularly traumatic, I was too young to really understand what had happened. The explosion was horrific, especially as it was played over & over again on T.V. for weeks afterward, but my happy little childhood bubble was not otherwise burst. Elsewhere, those mature enough to comprehend the tragedy translated their sadness into resolve that the deaths would not be in vain—that the manned exploration of outer space would continue—& memorialized the valiant men & women of the Challenger. The motion picture Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, released in the summer of '86, was dedicated to Scobee, Smith, Onizuka, Resnik, McNair, Jarvis, & McAuliffe.

The Space Shuttle Challenger was destroyed by the explosive failure of a Solid Rocket Booster seventy-three seconds after lift-off, resulting in the deaths of her crew of seven, thirty years ago today.

The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
Guster, "Rocketship" from Goldfly (The Last Angry Man)

"I'm off on a rocketship,
Prepare for somethin' new,
I'm off on a rocketship,
Ecstatic with the view,
I am scared of the things upcomin'
And I want for the things I don't have,
Cannot stand to be one of many,
I'm not what they are…"

Commentary: This last graphic might be five years out of date, but the poignant message is timeless.

She founded the Company of St. Ursula in which women dedicated their lives to the service of the Church through the education of girls. From this organization later sprang the monastic Order of Ursulines, whose nuns established places of prayer & learning throughout Europe, worldwide, & in North Americas.

Scripture of the DayMass Readings
The Second Book of Samuel, chapter seven, verses four thru seventeen;
Psalm Eighty-nine, verses four, five, & twenty-seven thru thirty;
The Gospel according to Mark, chapter four, verses one thru twenty.

Personal Reading
The Gospel according to Matthew, chapter twenty-five (verses one thru forty-six).

Commentary: Obviously, the bid to quick march through Matthew before Christmas & all the disruption attendant to a colossal family reunion (for several days, there were twelve persons in my house!) failed. I now hope to finish this Gospel by the end of week, thereafter to begin the long slog through the Book of Genesis, which featured heavily in the recently read Bible Basic for Catholics.

Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Commentary: We are now ordinary in Ordinary Time. I considered adding "Ordinary in Odinary Time" to the title of this post, but only 'til I recognized that doing so would deep-six the very ordinariness of this post. January is the worst time of the year for Project BLACK MAMBA, both last year & this year, though I can't say I've figured out why. Post-Christmas blues, maybe? To quote John Hodgman, from his brilliant This American Life piece, "Slingshot": "Jesus, I don't know! Let's go to the boardwalk." Pardon Mr. Hodgman's abuse of the Holy Name, Lord, & forgive my repetition of same.

Timothy had the honor of being a fellow apostle with Paul, both sharing the privilege of preaching the gospel & suffering for it. Titus has the distinction of being a close friend & disciple of Paul as well as a fellow missionary.

Monday, January 25, 2016

Spinal Tap, "Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight" from This Is Spinal Tap (The Last Angry Man)

Commentary: I am unaware how to type "Spın̈al Tap," so I copied & pasted the word from the Wikipedia into Blogger's H.T.M.L. composer, which displays the word with that queer gap 'twixt the farcical, umlaut-topped N & the A. In monkeying around with the text, eventually producing the mundanely spelt "Spinals" you see above, three keystrokes were necessary to delete the N & the dotless I. The first keystroke deleted the umlaut but left the N, the second obliterated the N, & the third did in the peculiar I. So that happened.

Saul witness the risen Christ, which fulfilled the qualification for an apostle (Acts, 1:21-22). Only those who had seen the risen Christ could testify to His resurrection. Paul's life-changing experience on the Damascus Road led to his baptism & instruction in the Christian faith. He became the most determined of the apostles, suffering brutal physical pain, persecution, & finally martyrdom.

According to historical records, [intercessory prayer to] St. Sebastian defended the city of Rome against the plague in 680. He is the patron saint of soldiers, athletes, & those who desire a saintly death.

Sunday, January 24, 2016

Operation AXIOM: The World War
27 January 1916: Royal Assent was given to the Military Service Act 1916, introducing conscription to the United Kingdom after voluntary enlistments failed to satisfy recruiting requirements. Men could be conscripted at age eighteen, but could not vote in parliamentary elections 'til age twenty-one.

'Twould also have been the feast of Saint Sulpitius II of Bourges, Bishop (died circa 647, A.K.A. Sulpicius, the Pious): Saint-link & Wikipedia-link.

Commentary: Not to be confused with Saint Sulpicius I of Bourges, also a bishop (29 January).

Scripture of Last SundayMass Readings
The Book of Isaiah, chapter sixty-two, verses one thru five;
Psalm Ninety-six, verses one thru three & seven thru ten;
The First Letter to the Corinthians, chapter twelve, verses four thru eleven;
The Gospel according to John, chapter two, verses one thru eleven.

Commentary: Consult the Wayback Machine hyperlink above, for 17 January. This first month of the year is the roughest for BLACK MAMBA, in both 2015 & '16. I shall strive for matters to be otherwise in '17.

In 1883, Sr. Marianne relocated with six other Sisters, from New York to Hawaii to care for persons suffering (from) Hansen's Disease on the island of Moloka'i & aid in developing the medical infrastructure in Hawaii.

Commentary: Wayback Machine. St. Hilary was known in his lifetime as the "Hammer of the Arians" & "Athanasius of the West," after the great defender of Trinitarian orthodoxy against the Arian heresy.

Quoth the Holy Redeemer bulletin:

Hilary is the pre-eminent Latin writer of the fourth century (before St. Ambrose [7 December]). St. Augustine of Hippo (28 August) called him "the illustrious doctor of the churches," & his works continued to be highly influential in later centuries. Most trustworthy are the notices in St. Jerome (De vir. illus. 100; 30 September), Sulpicius Severus (

Chron. ii. 39-45), & in Hilary's own writings. Pope Pius IX formally recognized him as Universae Ecclesiae Doctor in 1851. Some consider St. Hilary of Poitiers as the patron saint of lawyers.

"Christ teaches that only those who become again, as it were, little children, & by the simplicity of that age cut off the inordinate affections of the vice, can enter the kingdom of heaven."—St. Hilary of Poitiers'Twas also the feast of Blessed Veronica of Milan (circa 1445-1497): Blessed-link & Wikipedia-link.

Commentary: Bl. Veronica was an Augustinian nun, but I cannot as yet identify the proper post-nominal letters for her branch of that sprawling order.

I devoured Bible Basics for Catholics rather quickly due to three factors: one, the book is quite short, being only one hundred eighty-plus pages, including the notes, & at that the print was relatively large/the text was not dense; two, the narrative is interspersed with Dr. Bergsma's own simple drawings, which serve both to literally illustrate his points & as memory aids for those whose memories are visually-based; & three, the author's engaging style, which places a premium on clarity & accessibility, two traits that make reading a breeze.

Despite the drudgery that is slogging through Pope Francis's encyclicals & apostolic exhortations, I have high hopes for The Church of Mercy, based as it is on homilies & public remarks, & thus divided into more manageably-sized morsels. "User-friendly," as the saying goes.

The mantra of a very wise fellow I know: "Don't just read good books, read the best."

Recently
Pope Francis, Laudato Si' (On Care for Our Common Home)
Matthew Kelly, Rediscover Jesus: An Invitation
Dr. John Bergsma, Bible Basics for Catholics: A New Picture of Salvation History

Thursday, January 21, 2016

The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, "Chasing the Sun Away" from A Jackknife to a Swan (The Last Angry Man)

Skammentary: Not so much yesterday or today, but I spent the early part of this week like so:

"Outside the sun rose
And you stayed inside,
You kept your eyes closed
And pulled down the shades on your window,
You decided to hide out from the sunlight,
It's too bright, just doesn't sit right
With the way you're feeling today,
You're cloudy and gray…"

Agnes is one of seven women who, along with the Blessed Virgin, are commemorated by name in the Canon of the Mass. She is the patron saint of chastity, gardnerers, girls, engaged couples, rape survivors, virgins, the Children of Mary.

The Children of Mary referenced here is a lay society associated with the Jesuits.

Scripture of the DayMass Readings
The First Book of Samuel, chapter one, verses nine thru twenty;
The First Book of Samuel, chapter two, verses one & four thru eight(d);
The Gospel according to Mark, chapter one, verses twenty-one thru twenty-eight.

Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Operation AXIOM: The World War—The Serbian Campaign, Part V
5-17 January 1916: The invasion & conquest of Montenegro by Austria-Hungary—though the Montenegrins blunted the Austro-Hungarian advance at the Battle of Mojkovac (6-8 January), the fall of the citadel at Mount Lovćen (11 January) sealed the doom of Serbia's tiny but steadfast ally.

The Wayback Machine Tour of the Serbian CampaignSpecial: Bulgaria declares war on Serbia (Prologue)№ CDLXVII: The Central Powers' second invasion of Serbia (Part I)№ CDLXXII: The Battle of Krivolak (Part II)№ CDLXXIII: The Serbs' Great Retreat (Part III)№ CDLXXIV: The Battle of Kosturino (Part IV)

One year from today, Friday, 20 January 2017, a new president of the United States will be inaugurated, ending the administration of Barack Obama. We here at The Secret Base do not pretend to be neutral on the aims or conduct of the Obama presidency, having argued against the man's election in 2008 & reelection in 2012; we have often & gleefully referred to Mr. Obama's policies as "the parade of horrors." Yet despite even this jaundiced attitude, in the last two years we have looked on aghast as Mr. Obama has reached new heights of hypocrisy, issuing executive orders that he had previously said he could not issue due to their blatant violation of our Constitution's separation of powers. In doing so, he has sought recourse from the little known "Intransigence Clause" of the Constitution, which allows the Executive Branch to do whatever it deems necessary on any individual issue should the Legislative Branch deign not to act as a rubber stamp for the administration's priorities & preferences. How little known is the Intransigence Clause? So much so that no trace of it can be found in any written copy of the Constitution. The existence of the powers of the Intransigence Clause was explicitly & categorically denied by President Obama, right up until the exact moment he discovered that the Intransigence Clause removes any limitation to the authority of presidential edict. Under the Intransigence Clause, Congress no longer holds even the power of the purse, supposedly its ultimate trump card. Of course, no one can identify in which article of or amendment to the United States Constitution the Intransigence Clause can be found, but clearly President Obama would never exceed the boundaries of his apportioned powers, would never do anything illegal. After all, no lesser an authority on the limitations of presidential power than President Nixon once remarked:

"If the president does it, that means it's not illegal."

We now present a hyperlink to an interesting though troubling appraisal of the Obama administration from Professor Jonathan Turley of the George Washington University Law School, a man whose politics run quite counter to our own on a plethora of issues: Obamboozled-link.

Flogging Molly, "The Worst Day Since Yesterday" from Swagger (The Last Angry Man)

Commentary:

"Well, I know I missed more than hit
With a face that was launched to sink
And I seldom feel the bright relief,
It's been the worst day since yesterday.

"If there's one thing I have said,
It's that the dreams I once had now lay in bed,
As the four winds blow my wits through the door
It's been the worst day since yesterday.

"Fallin' down to you, sweet ground,
Where the flowers they bloom, well, it's there I'll be found.
Hurry back to me my wild calling.
It's been the worst day since yesterday.

"Though these wounds have seen no wars
Except for the scars I have ignored,
And this endless crutch, well, it's never enough,
It's been the worst day since yesterday.

"Hell says, 'Hello,'
Well, it's time I should go,
To pastures green that I've yet to see.
Hurry back to me my wild calling.
It's been the worst day since yesterday.
It's been the worst day since yesterday.
It's been the worst day since yesterday."

Monday, January 18, 2016

Matt Maher, "Sons and Daughters" from Saints and Sinners (The Last and Angry Man)

Commentary: "Sons and Daughters" is bracketed by a pair of excerpts from Dr. King's celebrated oratory. From the beginning of the song:

"There's a little song that we sing in our movement down in the South—I don't know if you've heard it. It has become the theme song—'We Shall Overcome.'"

From the end:

"Deep in my heart I do believe we shall overcome. And I tell you why: We shall overcome because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice. Behind the dim unknown standeth God within the shadows, keeping watch above His own. We shall overcome because the Bible is right: You shall reap what you sow. We shall overcome! Deep in my heart I do believe we shall overcome with His favor."

Sunday, January 17, 2016

"Staring at the shoreline, wishing for some hope,
The weight of empty fishing nets is more twisted rope,
And underneath stern faces they wait with baited breath,
With broken hearts from hoping while casting out their nets.

"See the figure on the shore,
Speaks His words like plain men sing,
His hands they still have holes in them.
Glory to the King!

"Can you hear the bells are ringing
Far, far away?
Can you hear the voices singing
Far, far away?

"And Peter was a liar, a traitor just like me,
And Judas was a hypocrite, and Paul a Pharisee,
When truth can be so distant and hope evades our reach,
Peter swam across the water and foundered on the beach…

"I know that one day soon the song shall rise,
You'll hear it with the sleep still in your eyes…"

Saturday, January 16, 2016

Commentary: 'Tis the day for Ska Army's & my annual visit to the North American International Auto Show, in the heart of Detroit, Michigan—the "Motor City." Hurrah!

"Come away with me, Lucille,
In my merry Oldsmobile,
Down the road of life we'll fly,
Automobubbling, you & I,
To the church we'll quickly steal,
Then our wedding bells with peal,
You can go as far as you like with me
In my merry Oldsmobile."

Thursday, January 14, 2016

The was much to like about Rediscover Jesus, but also much to dislike, which is par for the course with Kelly's peculiar way of expressing myself. I am not a perfect disciple, far from it, but I still sense that Kelly is writing more for the man I was a few years hence than the man I am today. Still, if his writing helps any single individual renew his or her relationship with the Lord, that is all to the good; in that vein, complimentary copies of Rediscover Jesus were handed out at all the Christmas Eve & Christmas Day Masses at Holy Redeemer. Rediscover Jesus is written in forty brief chapters, meant to be read either straight through as I've just done or as a Lenten daily devotional. (The cover is purple, the liturgical color of Lent & Advent.) I do not think I'll be rereading the book this Lent, though I expect much of the material to show up in Dynamic Catholic's daily "Best Lent Ever" e-mails.

Currently
Dr. John Bergsma, Bible Basics for Catholics: A New Picture of Salvation History

Presently
Pope Francis, The Church of Mercy: A Vision for the Church
Rice Broocks, God's Not Dead: Evidence for God in an Age of Uncertainty
Richard Price, Clockers
Sir Richard Francis Burton, translator, "Sinbad the Sailor" from The Arabian Nights
Sir Ernest Shackleton, South: A Memoir of the Endurance Voyage
Norman Davies, Vanished Kingdoms: The Rise and Fall of States and Nations
Hilaire Belloc, How the Reformation Happened
Michael White & Tom Corcoran, Rebuilt: The Story of a Catholic Parish

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

They Might Be Giants, "New York City" from Factory Showroom (The Last Angry Man)

Commentary: This one's for Trilby Van Diemen & all the other Knickerbockers of old New Amsterdam, who have been much on my mind of late.

"You called me last night on the telephone
And I was glad to hear from you 'cause I was all alone,
You said, 'It's snowing! It's snowing! God, I hate this weather!'
Now I walk through blizzards just to get us back together…"

By contrast, I love this weather.

This Week in Motorsport: Rally Monkey
An addendum to to yesterday's post about the thirty-seventh running of the Dakar Rally: "The Explorers' Club" has delved into the mad grandeur of the Dakar, in a two-part series from early 2014, episodes № CCCLXXII & № CCCLXXIII.

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Pardon me for a moment as I cackle with glee: Bwa ha ha ha ha ha! The thrill of victory really is worth risking the agony of defeat. The valiant Wolverines' victory over the terrible Terrapins was the program's first victory over a Top 5 club in two or three years, & Team 100's first victory against a ranked opponent. It's always great to be a Michigan Wolverine, but some days are better than others. Woo hoo!

To your humble narrator's eyes the hero of the game was Derrick Walton Jr. (junior, guard), who scored twelve points but even more importantly had ten monster rebounds—monster considering Walton is a 6'1" guard amid the forest of Maryland's big men—& helped hold the terrible Terrapins' leading scorer, Melo Trimble (sophomore, guard), to a mere two points, a fraction of his nearly fifteen points-per-game average (14.8). The Maize & Blue were without leading scorer Caris LeVert (senior, guard) for the third straight game, but Zak Irvin (junior, forward) stepped into the breach with a season-high twenty-two points. Duncan Robinson (sophomore, guard) dropped threes from, as Dick Vitale said, "Ypsilanti," & Mark Donnal (sophomore, forward) had another fierce game inside, swatting the ball away aggressively, more often than not without fouling (though he still finished the game with four personals). After the game, coach John Beilein said this was "a quality win," & I could not agree more. Maryland is the real deal, a club that plays as a team, with five players averaging double-digit points per game, & the valiant Wolverines beat them, even without the considerable talents of LeVert. Very well done, gentlemen.

Next: At (№ 16) Iowa on Sunday, the third of three consecutive games against Top 25 Big Ten opponents, which to my delight has been a split so far.

Welcome to the new year! We are in the midst of the 2016 Dakar Rally, the thirty-seventh running of the great race that originally ran from Paris, France to Dakar, Senegal—thus "the Dakar," though for security reasons (read: Islamist terrorists are not just killers, but killjoys as well) the race has been run in South America since 2009. This first major motorsport race of the year is a grueling, two-week test of men & machines, covering over five thousand seven hundred miles (5,740 miles!) from 3-16 January. The Dakar is mad—gloriously, brilliantly mad!

Through the first week, the marquee headline has been the performance of the Peugeot 2008 DKR16 (photo above) in the "car" category, a two-wheel drive, bi-turbo diesel buggy heavily revised from last year's lackluster model, which mark the marque's return to the Dakar. The Peugeots are piloted by the "dream team" of "Monsieur Dakar," eleven-time Dakar champion Stéphane Peterhansel (six wins on "bikes," five in cars); "El Matador," Dakar winner & two-time World Rally Champion Carlos Sainz; nine-time World Rally Champion Sébastien Loeb, making his Dakar debut; & five-time Dakar champion Cyril Despres (all on bikes, 2016 being his second year in cars). There is also a fifth Peugeot driven by Le Mans winner Romain Dumas, but as this is the only 2008 DKR to lack Red Bull sponsorship I suspect this is at least a partially privateer effort, or at least not an "official" part of the works team, Team Peugeot Total. Four of the Peugeots' five pilots are French—Peterhansel, Loeb, Despres, & Dumas; 'tis fueled by Total; & it runs on Michelin tires. Vive la France!

Dakar coverage airs on U.S. television every evening at 5:30 P.M. on the N.B.C. Sports Network (N.B.C.S.N.; check your local listings).

Zolof the Rock & Roll Destroyer, "The Moon and Mars" from Schematics (The Last Angry Man)

Commentary: Calm thyself, "The Moon and Mars" isn't about the conquest of outer space, but about summer romance, spending time out of doors at night, under the light of the Moon & Mars. 'Tis a good song despite this disappointment. The best line from the lyrics:

Monday, January 11, 2016

Commentary: "Sports Song" is chosen to mark the occasion of the last college foosball game of the 2015 season, tonight's College Football Playoff National Championship (bowl?) 'twixt the epithetless Tigers of Clemson & the epithetless Crimson Tide of Alabama. I don't have a dog in this fight, but 'tis the last bite at the apple 'til next fall & beggars are really in a position to be choosers.

The Explorers' Club
Light bulb! After "The Explorers' Club's" centenary commemoration of the First World War—"Operation AXIOM: The World War"—wraps up in 2018 (or more likely in 2019, as the aspirations & follies of the Paris Peace Conference comprise a worthy field of study), we should follow up with a series on the League of Nations mandates—"Mandatory Fun!"

Sunday, January 10, 2016

Operation AXIOM: The World War—The Gallipoli Campaign, Part VII
9 January 1916: The last British, French, & A.N.Z.A.C. forces were evacuated from Cape Helles, Anzac Cove & Suvla Bay having been evacuated on 20 December 1915. The evacuation was the most competently planned & executed phase of the Entente Powers' misadventure at Gallipoli.

From the initial naval attempts to force the Dardanelles to a final aerial battle days after the evacuation, Entente casualties exceeded fifty-six thousand killed & one hundred twenty-three thousand wounded. The defending Turks suffered over fifty-six thousand killed & one hundred seven thousand wounded. Winston Churchill was forced to resign from his position as First Lord of the Admiralty over the failure his Gallipoli gambit, & later the Dardanelles Commission would conduct on official inquiry into the conduct of the campaign.

The "Anzac spirit" looms large in the Australian & New Zealander national identities, I suppose much as Bunker Hill & Valley Forge do for Americans. 25 April, the anniversary of the first landings at Gallipoli, holds the annual observance of Anzac Day, commemorating & mourning the Australasian nations' war dead, much as Remembrance Day does in most of the other Commonwealth nations & Memorial Day does in these United States.

Commentary: Wayback Machine. Though not explicitly numbered as such, this appears to be the first Sunday in Ordinary Time. Quoth the Holy Redeemer bulletin:

Along with the crucifixion of Jesus, most biblical scholars view [His baptism] as one of the two historically certain facts about Him, & often use it as the starting point for the study of the historical Jesus.

Commentary: Wayback Machine. Along with Ss. Basil the Great & Gregory Nazianzen (2 January), St. Gregory of Nyssa is consider the third "Cappadocian Father," though unlike his brother Basil & the other Gregory he is not honored as a Doctor of the Church.

Commentary: Though not listed on the U.S.C.C.B.'s website as an optional reading for today, the Gospel proclaimed at the retreat I was on was the baptismal account from the Gospel according to Matthew, chapter three, verses thirteen thru seven. A fine reading, & I would not take issue with anyone who preferred it to the Lucan account, but I found the variance liturgically improper. In this, I might well be mistaken, though I suspect not.

Duvall, "Go Tell It on the Mountain" from O Holy Night (The Last Angry Man)

Commentary: The Mass, "the source & summit of Christian life," gets its name from the end of the proceedings, when the faithful are sent to carry the Good News into their daily lives, back into the world from whence they came. A deacon of my acquaintance, a gifted & delightful public speaker, ends the Mass with a particularly emphatic command to "Go!" As we conclude the Christmastide, I urge you to go forth always in the Christmas spirit, to share with all you encounter the Good News of the Savior's birth.

"Go, tell it on the mountain,
Over the hills and everywhere,
Go, tell it on the mountain
That Jesus Christ is born!"

Thursday, January 7, 2016

Well, that was discouraging. For the first three quarters of the game, I was astonished, if not quite impressed, that the valiant Wolverines were staying in touch with the ill-starred Boilermakers despite (A) the absence of leading scorer Caris LeVert (senior, guard), (B) the ineffectiveness of Derrick Walton Jr. (junior, guard) & Zak Irvin (junior, forward), & (C) the sheer size disparity 'twixt the Lilliputian Wolverines & the Brobdingnagian Boilermakers. Our best player was out & two of our key offensive weapons had been neutralized, & yet we managed to stay roughly five to eight points behind; hey, I thought, drop a few timely threes & we'll be right back in this! Famous last words. As the game wore on, Purdue could do no wrong, raining three-point shots & crashing the boards for two-pointers. Meanwhile, we fell into the most tenacious bad habit of the Beilein era: ceding the inside & throwing up a barrage of ill-conceived & poorly-executed three-point attempts, nearly all of which were retrieved by the towering Purdue big men. It got worse, & it got worse, & in the end we lost by danged near twenty points.

True, we had to play without LeVert, but with the lower leg injury he sustained against Illinois who knows how long he'll be out, much less how effective he'll be once he comes back; to be successful in B1G play, the valiant Wolverines need to figure out how to win with LeVert in the lineup. It is true, as well, that we lost to a ranked team on their home court, a team that should have been able to defeat us, but that also means we've lost to every ranked team we've played; if we're to have any chance of making the Big Dance, we'll need to win against the toughest opposition, on nights when three-pointers don't fall from the sky like manna from heaven.

Next: Maryland (№ 3) in the friendly confines of the Crisler Center. After that, the Maize & Blue visit the giant-slayers of Iowa (№ 19). I believe in Team 100, in their potential & the soundness of their approach, but there's no denying that this stretch will be tough sledding for my valiant Wolverines. Let us hope they will rise to the occasion, that they will make the most of their opportunities.

Go Blue!

The Queue | Hollywoodland
I've not read Gulliver's Travels, but I have read that the size difference 'twixt the denizens of Lilliput & Lemuel Gulliver was 1:12, & similarly the difference 'twixt Gulliver & the denizens of Brobdingnag was a further 1:12, meaning that the disparity twixt a chap from Lilliput & a chap from Brobdingnag is an unfathomable 1:144. The Purdue bigs aren't quite that big, but they've got three players seven feet or taller. Sophomore Isaac Haas—7'2" tall & build like a house—is the real-life version of Ivan Drago, the giant Soviet boxer from Rocky IV.

He was a Spanish Dominican friar int he thirteenth century, who compiled the

Decretals of Gregory IX, a collection of canon laws that remained a major part of Church law until the twentieth century. He is... the patron saint of lawyers, especially canon lawyers.Quoth the Holy Family bulletin:

A renowned expert in canon & civil law, St. Raymond also worked for the formation of priests & the evangelization of Jews & Muslims. He encouraged missionaries to learn Arabic & to study the Koran in order to enter into dialogue with Islam. He was born at Penyafort, near Barcelona, between 1175-1180. he studied at the cathedral in Barcelona & proceeded to the University of Bologna where he became an eminent professor of canon law. He was a diocesan priest, be became a Domunican in 1218. He was a dedicated confessor & was dedicated to evangelization. He also encouraged St. Thomas Aquinas (28 January) to write his

Summa contra Gentiles. He died at Barcelona on 6 January 1275.'Tis also the feast of Saint Lucian of Antioch, Martyr (circa 240-312), martyred under the emperor Maxentius: Martyr-link, & Wikipedia-link.

The Puppini Sisters, "The Little Match Seller (Silent Night)" from Christmas with the Puppini Sisters (The Last Angry Man)

Commentary: As I repeatedly tried to remind someone with whom I had a distressing conversation-cum-ersatz counseling session last night, the Lord never promised us this world would be nothing but wine & roses. Quite the opposite in fact. There will be pain. There will be struggle. There will be suffering. The question is, will you let these misfortunes steal away your hope in Heaven, or will you allow them to unite you with Christ in His redemptive suffering? None or it is useless, none of it is in vain, unless you make it so. Han Christian Anderson's "The Little Match Girl" poignantly reminds us of this, as does "The Little Match Seller (Silent Night)."

"Glory! Hallelujah!
The little girl smiles in the snow.
Glory! Hallelujah!
The little girl sleeps in the snow."

St. André battled sickness for much of his life & humbly devoted his life to prayer, serving the Lord & comforting the sick & afflicted. Through his [intercessory] prayers to St. Joseph (19 March & 1 May), many received God's healing graces.

Quoth the Holy Family bulletin:

St. André was a Holy Cross Brother who founded St. Joseph's oratory in Montreal, Canada. He was the eighth child in a family of twelve. He was orphaned at the age of twelve. He tried different trades, but was not successful at any of them. He could barely read & write & was sickly most of his life. At the age of fifteen he became a Brother of Holy Cross but was rejected at the end of the novitiate. At the insistence of the Bishop opf Montreal, however, Brother André was allowed to make religious profession. For forty years he worked as a porter. People from all over Canada came to him for cures or for spiritual direction. He spent eight to ten hours a day ministering to those who came to see him. He attributed all healings to St. Joseph. He died in 1937.